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I'd forgotten that Frola & Emma Hawes dance with the NBC as well as ENB. I wonder if they will be cast in SB or whether the NBC will choose to showcase dancers who UK audiences are less likely to have seen dance.

I would imagine you would. Here is principal casting from their last Toronto showing of the Nureyev SB in 2018. (Some dancers have left, e.g., Tedaldi sadly - and Evan McKie (who some may remember from Stuttgart's last visit at the Wells) and Piotr Stanczyk were injured at that time. I would hope that we might see both on the ROH stage as well. Of course, there are new dancers too.)

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I would imagine you would. Here is principal casting from their last Toronto showing of the Nureyev SB in 2018. (Some dancers have left, e.g., Tedaldi sadly - and Evan McKie (who some may remember from Stuttgart's last visit at the Wells) and Piotr Stanczyk were injured at that time. I would hope that we might see both on the ROH stage as well. Of course, there are new dancers too.)

That might get me to go then! I thought Frola was terrific in Manon this time last year and he & Hawes lovely together in Cinderella in June. I'm booked to see them both in Le Corsaire on Saturday.

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I, for one, am delighted NBOC is bringing Nureyev's "Sleeping Beauty" to London as it will be nostalgic in so many ways for me. It was the production I grew up with and watched Kain many times as Aurora. I was a dresser for their summer season of 'Beauty' before returning to the UK as a student so I got to know those fabulous costumes intimately! It was also in the rep of LFB/ENB for many years and I thought it sad when it was jettisoned for the much less interesting production by MacMillan. I saw many stars in the ballet and my abiding memory is of standing in the wings to watch Nureyev with Evdokimova because the Coliseum was completely sold out during the Nureyev and Friends season.

It would be interesting to see Hynd's "Merry Widow" but it is not a very challenging ballet for the dancers and I think Kain, during her final season as Artistic Director, will want to showcase the strengths of her dancers at all levels, and there is nothing like Nureyev's 'Beauty' for doing this, as anyone who has danced in it will tell you!

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Gosh I may know you Irmgard! That’s a memory of mine too!!
My friend who was doing some sort of Arts Admin degree worked for the Company for a bit when they were still LFB ...for experience I think and I joined her to dress for the corps de ballet when Evdokimova and Nureyev danced together ( her Giselle was fab) I remember the Sleeping Beauty because there were SO MANY hooks and eyes on one set of costumes and I was really nervous as there was one very quick change ...I was terrified I wouldn’t get them on and off in time or some dancer would lose their costume mid performance!!
Am really interested to see this again! Shame no longer be standing in the wings and discover that Nureyev standing behind you though!!!

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Gosh I may know you Irmgard! That’s a memory of mine too!!
My friend who was doing some sort of Arts Admin degree worked for the Company for a bit when they were still LFB ...for experience I think and I joined her to dress for the corps de ballet when Evdokimova and Nureyev danced together ( her Giselle was fab) I remember the Sleeping Beauty because there were SO MANY hooks and eyes on one set of costumes and I was really nervous as there was one very quick change ...I was terrified I wouldn’t get them on and off in time or some dancer would lose their costume mid performance!!
Am really interested to see this again! Shame no longer be standing in the wings and discover that Nureyev standing behind you though!!!

I didn't dress for LFB, only NBOC but I remember those very heavy costumes - especially for the Queen! Having to heave the two sides of the skirt together to fasten the waist and then all the other hooks and eyes! It was a great workout for the arm muscles! As for Nureyev and LFB, I remember him coming flying into my wing at the end of his manege in his Act III solo and almost crashing into me but my knees went weak anyway, purely from his electrifying eyes!

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I, for one, am delighted NBOC is bringing Nureyev's "Sleeping Beauty" to London as it will be nostalgic in so many ways for me. It was the production I grew up with and watched Kain many times as Aurora. I was a dresser for their summer season of 'Beauty' before returning to the UK as a student so I got to know those fabulous costumes intimately! It was also in the rep of LFB/ENB for many years and I thought it sad when it was jettisoned for the much less interesting production by MacMillan. I saw many stars in the ballet and my abiding memory is of standing in the wings to watch Nureyev with Evdokimova because the Coliseum was completely sold out during the Nureyev and Friends season.

It would be interesting to see Hynd's "Merry Widow" but it is not a very challenging ballet for the dancers and I think Kain, during her final season as Artistic Director, will want to showcase the strengths of her dancers at all levels, and there is nothing like Nureyev's 'Beauty' for doing this, as anyone who has danced in it will tell you!

I also have happy memories of watching this, but I think it was replaced by a production from Hynd/Heeley, which was shortlived. Deane then produced his in the round version which may or may not have had a pros arch outing, I don't remember. Then came the Macmillan.

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I saw that the prices were £8 to £120 which (if memory serves) was only a little less than the Bolshoi. (Certainly the cheapest standing room for that was £10.)

I would imagine this programming is largely targeted to the tourist market at that time of year. Myself, I will be glad to see the Nureyev SB again. I did see Obratsova and Sarafanov in it with La Scala when they were here ... but before that it was back in the days of Nureyev, Veronica Tennant and Karen Kain with NBoC and that WAS a long time ago ... Heady times they were (or so my memory would like to serve).

In terms of catching up with the Canadian company at least SB does also offer a lot of soloist and demi-soloist possibilities and gives you a chance to really evaluate the state of the corps work. That may have been the Company's factor when in discussion with the Hochhauser Organisation.

It would have been nice if, perhaps, they brought Neumeier's Nijinsky (especially with Frola) as they did in Paris. That too has so many different dancing possibilities - but I'm sure such would have been seen (with I fear some justification) as being too commercially risky.

We were indeed treated with that Nijinsky we saw in Paris with Frola and Lunkina. Pity they didn't bring it here but SB probably sells better to the masses as you say.

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Here is the casting for NBOC's upcoming SB shows in Washington DC, which will probably give you a good idea of what it will be like for London.

I suspect the choice of SB was also influenced by the fact that they had to prepare it for Washington as well. They just did Merry Widow last spring here in Toronto but that would mean another whole ballet to rehearse again for this coming July, just after they've premiered a new Swan Lake in Toronto in June.

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I’m looking forward to seeing the Ogden/James cast in DC on the evening of Feb 1. Also, the designs should be treat, from what I’ve read...this level of luxury is rare in the 21st century. Report forthcoming!